If you're ever going to add an outbuilding you'll wish you had a bigger main panel.

I want to wire my second garage with a subpanel, which should be easy, except my main panel, despite being 200A, has a small number of slots and every one is taken. Plus, there's no disconnect, making working in that box very hazardous. All the lights and outlets are powered by an interior subpanel. This setup is very standard around here. To safely work in the box I have to have the utility company come and remove the meter.

I hooked up a proper dimmer switch (a Lutron made for LEDs) and the dimming is very impressive. The slider's floor is adjustable and the bulbs flicker only at literally the lowest setting. They work perfectly at what's got to be less than 10% of full brightness. I'm very pleased with that.

I hooked up a proper dimmer switch (a Lutron made for LEDs) and the dimming is very impressive. The slider's floor is adjustable and the bulbs flicker only at literally the lowest setting. They work perfectly at what's got to be less than 10% of full brightness. I'm very pleased with that.

I wish that bulb were available in a 3500K color temperature. I thought that toning down the starkly white color of an LED bulb was one of the big manufacturing obstacles but now it seems like the only LED bulbs you can find are 2700K.

My wife and I are near to closing on a house and will be doing a number of reno's before moving in. It's an older house in downtown Buffalo, a couple blocks north of Delaware Park. Previous owner seems to have been opposed to normal updates but it helped us get a better deal and we wanted to make some personalizations anyway. Current pre-move-in list stands at adding a half bath, new kitchen and other assorted plumbing, refinish hardwoods, pretty thorough electric update and maybe some hvac updates...kind of intimidating but we'll have help. Needs exterior work too but that'll have to wait. just wanted to jump in on the conversation and maybe ask advice, post updates, etc.

Quote:

Originally Posted by VLSI

Is it worth paying extra to buy a house that's very nicely upgraded? I'm conflicted again

Quote:

Originally Posted by RedLantern

Depends on:
How much extra money?
what the upgrades are - are they what you would choose?
If so, is the premium you pay for them less than buying a less expensive home an upgrading it yourself?
If not, are you very picky? Will you end up wishing you had exactly what you wanted?
Do you have the cash to upgrade yourself?

These were all questions we agonized over when looking for this house. We missed out on a fully updated house just up the street from where we bought because a bidding war quickly jacked the price up out of our range. Our house is in dire need so we got a far better price and we have contacts in the trades so going this way might be cheaper after all. Waiting for the work to happen isn't fun but at least we get to choose what goes in. Also, we've seen that our house, given the neighboring properties, has room to grow in value.

VLSI, my wife's brother also just bought a house, a ranch from an older lady. in the past two weeks he put in new appliances (12mo 0%), ripped up carpets and refinished hardwoods, paint and it looks 100% better. A place that need just a little work could def save you money if youve got the time to spare for it. otherwise, fuck it, treat yo self.

Actually in process of bidding on a HUD home that needs a fair amount of work, largely cosmetic. House has tons of potential and a lot of the features I want. Don't want to overbid but scared I'll lose it too. Pretty competitive out here right now

For what it's worth, there's 2700k and then there's 2700k. The light from those Feit bulbs is appreciably whiter than the Philips A19 lobed A19 LEDs with the same color rating.

Relevant to the thread, I'm trying to track down mystery switches and wiring glitches in my house.

So far I've found:

An ungrounded 15A outlet on a 30A breaker . . .

One outlet that's wired in line with some exterior lights for no apparent reason.

A mystery four-way switch in the master bedroom next to the bed that actually controls outdoor flood lights.

A pair of 3-way switches in the upstairs bonus room. All the wires are there, but I have no idea what it's connected to--the wires just disappear downstairs.

A blank-covered box in an upstairs bathroom that has wiring for a 3-way switch, but to only half the fixtures in the bathroom. Cover goes back on.

A double 2-pole switch that was installed backwards, meaning one switch controlled both things it was connected to (an outside ceiling fan and a light) and the other didn't do anything.

A double 2-pole switch that had one switch that didn't seem to do anything. I just disconnected the other one and replaced it with a single switch.

A pair of three way switches that was wired with a hot on each switch.

Best of all is a circuit of outlets in one bedroom upstairs that is somehow connected to a set of lights on another circuit, such that one side of the neutrals become hot when disconnected from the other. I have no idea how that's even possible. I was replacing an outlet, pulled one of the whites, and ZAP!

our seller was a greedy SOB, no realtor operating on his behalf so he had no common courtesy in negotiating just kept on holding out and had an excuse for every halfass DIY. We finally gave him our number and said take it or leave it. The negotiating was no fun. I hope you get it at the price you want.

Don't compromise or put off the exterior work unless it is purely cosmetic. Your first job is to ensure your family is warm and dry.

Good luck.

lefty

Thanks much, Lefty. The house will be a little drafty but the exterior work is all cosmetic. Aluminum siding, though showing its age, is still solid. New windows will go in here and there and new siding will probably happen summer 2014. The one good thing the previous owner did was install a new roof.

the garage and half of our new house is powered by extension cords. I could have wrung the sellers neck when we were doing the inspection. Glad we know an electrician, he's going to have some work to do.